Many individuals and enterprises that have begun accumulating significant amounts of digital information lack a reliable and convenient way to preserve this digital information in case of disaster, such as fire or flood. This digital data may include, but is not limited to, personal financial records, scanned copies of paper documents, digital photos, video, music, and other digital data. The current mechanisms for protecting this digital data are unreliable and sufficiently laborious that often this data is not protected in any way. Additionally, prior mechanisms for backing up and preserving this data often expose the backup copy to the possibility of theft or loss.
Modern day businesses are moving at an ever greater pace with real-time transactions taking place at a rate in which the loss of even a few minutes worth of data can cause significant problems in recovery. Thus an active, protected computer server that has permanent and immediate survivability in the face of disaster is an ever increasing need. For example, doing periodic backups, the temporal cost of these backups is increasing such that losing a week or just a day's worth of data can prove devastating.
The fundamental facility of U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,833, for example, is the dissipation of heat generated by the storage element through the use of a large enclosure. The patented system attempts to protect a specific backup storage element but it suffers from the aforementioned need to actively perform a data backup function which is required or data protection is non-existent. U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,597 has a system for protecting a data storage element. However, this active system leads to a complicated mechanism that is by nature prone to failure.
In view of these and other deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention has as one object the provision of an apparatus for storing digital data that has a significantly improved ability to survive common disasters such as fire, water damage, flood, and structural destruction. Another object is to provide additional, optional mechanisms to protect sensitive information stored in the apparatus, even if the apparatus is stolen.
A further object is to provide mechanisms used with data storage apparatus that are convenient enough to facilitate and even encourage the invention's use.
Yet another object is to provide a data protection apparatus which employs two fundamentally different mechanisms for heat dissipation including a way of reducing power consumption during periods of low or no use which fully engages only when service is required of a user, as well as a second fundamentally different mechanism of heat dissipation.
These and other more detailed and specific objects of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following Figures and detailed description which illustrate by way of example but a few of the various forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.
Briefly, the invention includes an outer protective enclosure or container for a data processor, i.e. computer, that provides environmental protection from fire, water, and tampering or theft of the computer components. An external electrical connection assembly provides connectors that furnish computer network connections, peripheral connections for external devices, and power supply connections. This assembly also provides a seal to prevent infiltration of fire, water, and other environmental hazards into the protected environment. The connection assembly also can provide environmental data such as ambient temperature to the computer in the protected interior of the enclosure. This environment information may be used by software processes running on the computer components to activate additional, optional, passive and active protection mechanisms. Since power management is used to control and minimize heat generation, the heat generated is low enough that passive dissipation is sufficient and, being passive, is inherently more reliable than active dissipation techniques. We have found that passive heat dissipation (typically through two or more layers of material to the outside) is adequate if the internal temperature does not exceed operating parameters of the specific electronics that are used, for example, 30° C., i.e. 86° F. If there is insufficient passive heat dissipation, the wall thickness can be reduced or wall materials of greater heat conductivity are used.
In one preferred form of the invention, provision is made for the control of heat generated by the enclosed computer components. The invention successfully dissipates small amounts of heat from within the enclosures but also protects the inside of the enclosures from extreme heat to which it may be exposed on the outside. First the heat produced by the computer server inside the enclosure is reduced to a minimum. When this is done, we have found that a heat-absorbing substance or phase-change material such as a salt or other meltable substance which is used in the enclosure does not activate and the heat is successfully transferred through the enclosures to the outside environment. In the event of a fire, however, the enclosures protect the computer server from extreme temperatures due to activation of the phase-change material. Thus, low levels of internally produced heat are dissipated through phase-change material while high levels of heat are absorbed by phase-change material as it changes from a solid to the liquid phase. The protective enclosure provides time to prevent excessive internal temperatures during a brief period of typically ½ to one hour following a fire. The actual length of time depends of several factors including the nature and amount of phase change material used as well as the size of the enclosure and its characteristics. The enclosure still, however, permits the dissipation of internally generated heat to the outside environment by conduction through the walls and a layer of phase-change material. Thus, the invention protects against a brief period of heat exposure, but during normal operation adequately dissipates internally produced heat.
A digital data storage assembly that is provided as a part of the computer contains the digital data stored in the apparatus and is structured to tolerate some hardware failures so as to provide back-up storage of customer data in the event of a disaster. One preferred embodiment of this component is a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) data storage component.
A digital data storage processing element provides the processing required to manage the storage and retrieval of the digital data from the digital data storage assembly, handles encryption of the data for additional protection of the data, and performs the computer network protocol processing required to accept and provide digital data to other network-attached computers. This processing element also uses environmental information, provided by sensors, to protect the digital data by active means, such as powering down components of the apparatus. This processing element also provides notification of exceptional potentially harmful conditions to remote entities using communications connections, such as a wired computer network connection, telephone connection, or a wireless computer network connection.
The temperature sensors used in the invention are provided as embedded, integrated mechanisms common in many present day integrated circuits (ICs) and are part of what is referred to as “hardware health monitoring” to monitor such elements as voltage, temperature, fan RPM, etc. Monitoring can be accomplished, for example, using a suitable Intel inter IC Bus (I2C Bus) to prevent potentially harmful conditions between computer components, e.g a display or alarm. Alternatively, a Phillips System Management Bus (SMB) which is based on a I2C bus can be used. These embedded sensors and the information they provide, such as temperature, are used in accordance with the present invention to trigger an alarm or to cause the operating system (OS) to take evasive or protective action.
Also, in accordance with a preferred form of the invention, a data encryption module is provided which employs suitable known methods and devices for the optional encryption of data stored within the computer server. The preferred embodiment for this assembly is a data encryption algorithm which, along with a key, transforms clear text data into encrypted data prior to its being stored in any storage elements. Upon retrieval of encrypted data from storage elements, a reverse transformation decrypts the data back to the original clear text. The storage elements can be the main storage element assembly or, if desired, a flash memory device such as Secure Digital memory cards can be used. Encryption keys can be provided manually, as will be described in more detail below, by a biometric device or resident within a flash memory device such as a Secure Digital flash memory device. When a flash memory or biometric device is used, it is preferably located inside the protective enclosure, but may also be connected through the external connection assembly so as to be located outside the enclosures, depending upon security or operational requirements. The protective apparatus provided in accordance with the invention consists of a number of components serving distinct purposes to enhance survivability and promote effectiveness and usage of the the invention. The invention thus provides an improved method and apparatus to store and protect digital data such as financial records, digital photos, scanned images, documents, and other digital data. During use the digital storage system is contained and operates within a protective enclosure that is capable of surviving fire, shock, crushing forces, submersion, and other effects of a disaster. By keeping heat production within the enclosure to a minimum, the Digital Data Storage Assembly components are able to operate properly even though enclosed and sealed. The collection of information about the external environment allows additional active protection mechanisms to be used as will be described to further enhance the Digital Data Storage Assembly's survivability. The active protection mechanisms include activation of remote alarm systems using computer network connections and activation of power management techniques to reduce heat output or system shutdown.